


Heroes of Yin'ra

by Richard_of_the_Sirens



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Bard - Freeform, Drow, Fighter, Half-Elves, Humans, Illithid, Magic, Mind Flayers, Multi, Other, Sorcerer, Undead, necromancer - Freeform, ulitharid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 04:37:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15655911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Richard_of_the_Sirens/pseuds/Richard_of_the_Sirens
Summary: An elf publishes a book about recent heroic events in the city of Ya'rin, but seems to know far too many details of the heroes and their exploits for it to be pure study or chance. Details and secrets that some might go very far to keep hidden.The 'Heroes of Yin'ra' proves to be an interesting tale, but how long before people in power question how she knows so much?





	Heroes of Yin'ra

Flames and smoke rose in the distance, climbing over houses and buildings alike. Guards and adventurers, the few that remained, swung sword and spell at the advancing undead mob. Any people that remained to fight, had been cornered at the docks. A last effort to get as many citizens onto ships as possible. The battle continued for a while longer, and sluggish zombies were cut down one by one. No matter how many fell, more replaced the fallen army, and soon the last of the resisting fighters disappeared under the shambling hoard.

A fair distance away in the ocean waters, a decaying ship of bone and rotted wood turned slowly to give chase towards the fleeing trio of caravels, but such a disaster of a vessel could only sail so fast in its ruined state. The ships disappeared to the northeast, and the sight of flames faded with the growing distance and fog. The now town-less citizens had been forced to abandon their home of Syrein, and sail towards a safer place, under the guidance of a dark-red tiefling, standing at the bow of the lead caravel.

Next to her, a half-elf leaned against the side, staring off into the distance where they could once see the town burning down into ashes. They brushed a hand back through dark hair that stopped just short of the shoulders, and went back to a pair of lazily crossed arms in their lap. Despite the fiddling, hair fell back down just enough to cover the points of their ears. The feminine-looking sorcerer continued to sit and watch into the distance, breathing another low sigh to themselves.

"Even if you had stayed, there's very little you could have done. When we get to the city, we will have allies to fight this." The tiefling had turned to look at the half-elf. "We did what we could."

The half-elf's response was another sigh, and sitting up to look back at the tiefling. "I could have done more, Zihara. That town was everyone's home. Now it's just... charcoal."

"Better alive to fight another day than dead. You'll see. Once we get to Yin'ra, we'll inform the Empress of this, and then we can fight back." The tiefling, Zihara, almost looked heroic, with her dusty-lavender colored hair catching a favorable breeze.

"If you say so." The last, bitter remark from the half-elf for the rest of the voyage, and the ships sailed on through the sundown and fog.

-

The dawn sunrise would creep over the distant shore hours later, greeting a different and larger vessel's arrival to the city of Yin'ra. A brigantine-sized ship found port, and dropped anchor before the crew began to disembark. A pair of humans stepped off the plank and onto the docks: a human man with a muscular fighter's physique; and a shorter woman in performer's clothes and an almost knee-high pair of well-made boots. Following behind seemed to be another member of this group, clad in full plate and tagging along behind the pair of humans.

As the trio left their ship to be maintained by the crew, they passed many strange sights and people in the bricked streets. A high number of tieflings, half-orcs, drow, and even mind flayers. All kinds simply carried on like citizens would in any civilized city. Each different race gave the humans another reason to pause for a split moment, unused to seeing the latter of those races. The humans shared whispers of disbelief and surprise, while the plated member of their bunch continued to observe and follow behind. They appeared far less phased than their companions.

 

Before long, the group found their way to an old temple of brick and stonework. In front of the wooden entrance doors stood an elf and... what appeared to be a mind flayer on guard, who nodded to the group as they approached. The illithid carried no weapon and seemed comfortable staying in the shade near the gates. The elf had a small shield hanging from their back, and they stepped forward to speak.

"You must be the ones that Zihara sent word of. The Empress is expecting you, but before you enter, we must ask you to surrender your weapons. For the first meeting at least."

The taller human man of the group replied, looking puzzled. "We've come to help, we mean no harm to any of the... citizens." He glanced over to the second gate guard, the mind flayer.

"It's just a precaution, you'll understand when you get inside. You'll be perfectly safe and you'll get your weapons back afterwards, I'm afraid I have to insist."

The leader of this trio shook his head in a bit of frustration and unsheathed a sword from his belt, giving it a bit of a twirl in his hand before carefully handing it over to the illithid.

The mind flayer delicately placed the sword on top of a box by their side, not wanting it to dirty or dull it on the ground.

Reluctantly, the shorter human relinquished a decorated rapier to the elven-looking guard, who took just as much care to set it aside.

Lastly, the figure in plate left a large warhammer by the gate, placing it hammer-side down and letting the hilt stick up into the air before following the group inside.

 

Inside the halls of the temple, there were crystals and rocks that glowed with blue light and soft oranges of what would pass for torchlight. The occasional illithid shuffled along to and from various hallways and different rooms. As the group walked past, they noticed occasional rooms dedicated to housing books, and tables covered in scrolls of varying languages. A pair of illithid in one room even looked to be studying and quietly conversing with each other over foreign relics, glowing and hovering as if magical in nature. Continuing on down the main hall, another few moments passed before a tiny figure swooped down from the upper balconies, and into the path of the trio.

_"So **you're** the ones Zihara mentioned! Well it's about **time** you got here! Come on, the empress is this way, no time to waste slowpokes!"_

In front of the trio floated a small pixie, with ice blue hair pulled into a ponytail, a darker blue pair of butterfly wings fluttering behind her, and an almost-glowing pair of neon pink eyes. Her wide-eyed gaze and energetic voice was a near-perfect opposite of the quiet and dark castle atmosphere.

"Uh... not that we don't appreciate the directions, but who are you?" The human woman inquired, looking more confused than before. Drow and mind flayers were one thing, but now a brightly-colored butterfly lady was something else entirely.

_"Why I'm Poppy, of coursee! Hero of Yin'ra, trickster deity, greatest fear of **all** things taller than me! and I'm VERY important around here, so **don't** go getting on my bad side and we'll get along juuuuuust fine~."_

Poppy scanned over the trio, only casting a look of recognition over the taller human. She looked over him, then the figure in plate, and the human woman last.

_"Spencer, Tatsumi, and... huh. Zi didn't mention anyone looking like you."_

The longer Poppy stared at the human woman, the more it felt like a tiny, invisible hand poking was at the side of their head.

With a flail of her hands to ward off the strange head-poking feeling, the woman identified herself.

"I'm Boots. Y'know? The bard? I know I'm new to the crew but sheesh."

_"Ahh. Spencer, Tatsumi, and Boots. Good to meet you all, now follow me, the empress shouldn't be kept waiting any longer!"_

 With surprising speed, Poppy led the adventuring trio down the main hallway, and turned down a smaller hallway. A much more intricately detailed door blocked the hallway, covered in carvings and decorative glyphs. The pixie muttered a magical incantation, and disappeared from view. A moment passed, then another, before the doors pulled opened from the other side by two illithid attendants.

There at the end of the room, not in a kingly throne but a circular table meant to seat many, sat the Empress.

With burgundy colored skin, a well-made and well-kept-looking set of noble's clothes, and tentacles that curled and draped from her face nearly all the way down to ankle-length, she glanced over the trio. Her gaze felt neither cold, nor prying. When she finally spoke, the sound seemed to resonate clearly in everyone's ear, as if she stood next to each of them.

 

" _It is nice to meet you all at last._ _ Welcome, to the city of Yin'ra._"

 

 

===

 

Meanwhile, years later in a similar but different world, stood a small bookshop tucked away between narrow vendor streets. Inside, a pale-skinned elf with black hair nearly down to her belt, handed over a book in exchange for a handful of coins. The book's cover showed a sketch of four adventurers, with the symbol of the city of _Ya'rin_ as the background. Its title simply read ' _Heroes of Yin'ra'_.

"Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the book, I hear it just got published recently."

The elf offers a content smile to the dwarf, as they wave politely and leave through the door, already glancing over the first pages of the book.

...as the dwarf disappears back into the somewhat crowded streets, the elf's smile seems to turn to delight.

Nearby, a gnome sits at a workdesk adjacent to the clerk counter, starting the conversation with an amused snort.

"With a look like **tha'** , you'd think he'd just offered t' buy every book in the store." He turned to give a glance to the elf behind him a few times while speaking, but kept most of his focus on a small gadget to be finished.

"I wrote a **book** , Ordon. I think I'm allowed to be proud of creating something for a little while, you're a gnome, you should know the feeling well."

"Yes, yes. I tinker as much as the next gadgetmaker, but y' can't be an _anonymous_ author if y're crackin' a big ol' smile every time someone buys **that** book. Besides, I still think it's a bit too close to reality to pass as _fiction_. The helmet could be used for bett'r things."

"The, _helmet_ , as you keep calling it, was something I gave you coin and magic to help _make_. If I wish to use it to help me decide on writing topics, then that is my choice. It's just story, and the details are different, so as far as anyone can tell it's just an imaginative retelling of events from years ago."

The elf sounded like she was only trying to convince herself by the end of her counterargument.

Ordon sighed. "Whateh'ver you say, Rahmi. It's your writing."

**Author's Note:**

> The story "Heroes of Yin'ra" is a work published by the elf, Rahmi, and sold in the fictional Dungeons and Dragons city of Ya'rin. All chapters of the 'book' have been published and released to citizens by the time the story in Ya'rin begins.
> 
> Each chapter consists of another long excerpt from the 'book'. After that is another segment about Rahmi, continuing from a short after the last.


End file.
